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The Green Party wants Wellington City Council to follow the lead of Auckland and Christchurch and cap the number of pokie machines allowed in the city.
The council will review its Gaming Venue policy on Thursday and the Greens want it to consider the high social costs gambling addictions create.
Spokesperson Iona Pannett says around 4,000 people in Wellington have serious gambling addictions, and for every gambler five others are affected by their problem.
Pannett says the council knows what the figures are but has not done any real analysis of the cost to the community through bankruptcies, domestic violence and family breakdowns.
She says Auckland and Christchurch have both adopted so called 'sinking lid' policies, where no new pokie machines are allowed in the cities, and it is time for Wellington to do the same.
Pannett says while Wellington pokie machine numbers are currently capped in the suburbs, there is no such limit in the city centre so addicts who are banned in other areas have no problem feeding their addiction in the CBD.
She says around 8% of Wellington's population is affected by a
gambling addiction in some way.
